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The Red Prince: The Fall of a Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Europe
Wilhelm Von Habsburg wore the uniform of the Austrian officer, the court regalia of a Habsburg archduke, the simple suit of a Parisian exile, the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and, every so often, a dress. He could handle a saber, a pistol, a rudder, or a golf club; he handled women by necessity and men for pleasure. He spoke the Italian of his archduchess mother, the German of his archduke father, the English of his British royal friends, the Polish of the country his father wished to rule, and the Ukrainian of the land Wilhelm wished to rule himself. In this exhilarating narrative history, prize-winning historian Timothy D. Snyder offers an indelible portrait of an aristocrat whose life personifies the wrenching upheavals of the first half of the twentieth century, as the rule of empire gave way to the new politics of nationalism. Coming of age during the First World War, Wilhelm repudiated his family to fight alongside Ukrainian peasants in hopes that he would become their king. When this dream collapsed he became, by turns, an ally of German imperialists, a notorious French lover, an angry Austrian monarchist, a calm opponent of Hitler, and a British spy against Stalin. Played out in Europe's glittering capitals and bloody battlefields, in extravagant ski resorts and dank prison cells, The Red Prince captures an extraordinary moment in the history of Europe, in which the old order of the past was giving way to an undefined future-and in which everything, including identity itself, seemed up for grabs.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published June 3, 2008
111 people are currently reading
2571 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Snyder
69 books5,362 followersTimothy Snyder is Housum Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences. He received his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1997, where he was a British Marshall Scholar. He has held fellowships in Paris, Vienna, and Warsaw, and an Academy Scholarship at Harvard.
His most recent book is Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning, published in September 2015 by Crown Books. He is author also of Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010), a history of Nazi and Soviet mass killing on the lands between Berlin and Moscow. A New York Times bestseller and a book of the year according to The Atlantic, The Independent, The Financial Times, the Telegraph, and the New Statesman, it has won twelve awards including the Emerson Prize in the Humanities, a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Leipzig Award for European Understanding, and the Hannah Arendt Prize in Political Thought.
His other award-winning publications include Nationalism, Marxism, and Modern Central Europe: A Biography of Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz (1998); The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999 (2003); Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist's Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine (2005); The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of A Habsburg Archduke (2008), and Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010).
Snyder helped Tony Judt to compose a thematic history of political ideas and intellectuals in politics, Thinking the Twentieth Century (2012). He is also the co-editor of Stalin and Europe: Terror, War, Domination and Wall Around the West: State Power and Immigration Controls in Europe and North America (2001).
Snyder was the recipient of an inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellowship in 2015. He is a member of the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and sits on the advisory council of the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research Research.
He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in modern East European political history.
His most recent book is Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning, published in September 2015 by Crown Books. He is author also of Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010), a history of Nazi and Soviet mass killing on the lands between Berlin and Moscow. A New York Times bestseller and a book of the year according to The Atlantic, The Independent, The Financial Times, the Telegraph, and the New Statesman, it has won twelve awards including the Emerson Prize in the Humanities, a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Leipzig Award for European Understanding, and the Hannah Arendt Prize in Political Thought.
His other award-winning publications include Nationalism, Marxism, and Modern Central Europe: A Biography of Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz (1998); The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999 (2003); Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist's Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine (2005); The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of A Habsburg Archduke (2008), and Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010).
Snyder helped Tony Judt to compose a thematic history of political ideas and intellectuals in politics, Thinking the Twentieth Century (2012). He is also the co-editor of Stalin and Europe: Terror, War, Domination and Wall Around the West: State Power and Immigration Controls in Europe and North America (2001).
Snyder was the recipient of an inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellowship in 2015. He is a member of the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and sits on the advisory council of the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research Research.
He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in modern East European political history.
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December 1, 2018
”When Wilhelm was arrested in August 1947, his Soviet guards removed an Omega watch from his wrist. This was the brand later worn by James Bond on the silver screen. The fictional Bond family even took a Habsburg motto for its own: ‘The World is Not Enough.’ By the time this was revealed by Bond’s creator Ian Fleming in 1963, only a very few Europeans would have remembered its Habsburg origins. By the time James Bond wore an Omega Seamaster watch in Goldeneye in 1995, it is fair to guess that none of the eighty million or so people who saw the film thought of Wilhelm.”
Wilhelm in traditional Ukrainian clothing.
I don’t really know much about the Habsburgs. I read a book about the suicide of Rudolph the crown prince of Austria and his father Franz Joseph. Franz Joseph was the center of all power in the Habsburg universe as the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He ruled for 68 years. The third longest in recorded European history. He knew when to exit the stage gracefully by passing away in 1916 just a few years before his empire was dissolved. With Rudolph’s suicide Franz Joseph’s nephew Franz Ferdinand was the heir apparent to the empire. Franz Ferdinand was not well liked, but he would end up playing an important role in the history of the world.
The assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife.
A Serbian student, Gavrilo Princip, stepped from the crowd. He had a gun. Standing directly in front of the car, Princip shot Sophie and Franz Ferdinand from close range. Each of them, mortally wounded, thought of the other. Sophie asked Franz Ferdinand what had happened to him. Franz Ferdinand begged Sophie to live for the sake of their children. One bullet had penetrated her corset and abdomen, another had pierced his jugular vein. He slowly pitched forward, bleeding heavily. His hat fell from his head, its green feathers mingling with red blood on the floor of the auto. His last words were. ‘it is nothing.’
With the last beating of his heart 16 million people were consigned to death and 20 million more would be wounded in one of the bloodiest conflicts in world history.
It seems absurd really in an age of assassination where there was hardly a head of state that hadn’t had an assassination attempt perpetrated against them for this to be the spark to set off the first world war. After all there were plenty of Habsburgs. Another nephew Karl was measured for emperor clothing and placed in the waiting room outside Franz Joseph’s imperial throne room. Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia and Pandora's box has been opened.
Timothy Snyder also talks about Maximilian, Franz Joseph’s little brother. I studied Mexican History one summer at the University of Arizona. It was a three hour a day class and my mind was reeling and cramping from the repetitive nature of Mexican history. It was a series of peasant uprisings in which they would kill or exile the corrupt people in power, put the leaders of the revolution in power, and then the new people in power soon become as corrupt as the ones they tossed out.
Do over.
So it was interesting in the middle of this blur of repeating history that Maximilian shows up on the scene. The Mexican aristocracy asked him to be their emperor. Poor Max was sold a bridge without planking.
First his wife, Carlota of Mexico, born Charlotte of Belgium, was nagging him that she wanted to be empress. She was rather lovely and he was a Habsburg so he was by nature ambitious. Mixing beauty with ambition can lead to a rash decision such as to accept an invitation to rule a third world country.
Second he didn’t know that the French soldiers were the only reason there was any modicum of control for any future government in which he would be running. The French leave soon after he arrives in 1864.
Third he didn’t know until he was departing for Mexico that he would have to give up all his European titles and his claim to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Of course at the time he was third in line and didn’t really expect to ever have a chance to succeed his brother. With Rudolph’s suicide in 1889 Max would have been next in line, but unfortunately he had already been executed by Mexican revolutionaries in 1867. How would the timeline of history change if Maximilian had never went to Mexico? Would a Serbian student have shot him? Would WWI have been avoided? Doubtful, Europe was a tender box just waiting to go off. Still when I’m bored at my desk at work sometimes I enjoy running these world scenarios through my head.
Maximilian went to Mexico with the best of intentions, but returned to Vienna in a box.
This book is supposed to be about Wilhelm, but is it my fault that Snyder talks about all these other tantalizing Habsburg histories?
The story of Wilhelm really begins with the story of his father Stefan. Stefan was blessed with three boys and three girls all of equal importance to a Habsburg because the family has a long history of using marriage to acquire new territories. Stefan looking at world events believes that Poland is ripe to be turned into a kingdom and so he moves there, buys 40,000 hectares of land, buys a brewery, and promptly begins to marry his daughters off to leading Polish aristocracy. This is a bold plan because his daughters are eligible to marry crown princes all over the world. He really does put all his eggs in one basket.
Wilhelm is the baby, so his older brother Albrecht is the heir apparent if Stefan can manage to carve out an empire and Leo is the spare. Wilhelm decides in the tradition of his family to go elsewhere to make his fortune. He decides on the Ukraine. He leads a unit of Ukraine soldiers in World War One and wears a flamboyant red Ukrainian shirt under his uniform which is when he begins being called The Red Prince. He learns the language. He immerses himself in Ukrainian culture.
Plots and counterplots land Wilhelm out of the Ukraine and into the hedonistic lifestyle of Paris in the 1930s. He was bi-sexual and Paris of that period was a wonderland of entertainment for a young aristocrat. This all came crashing down when one of his associates, Paulette the postal worker, had been caught defrauding thousands of dollars out of people using Wilhelm’s name. He had to flee back to Austria to avoid prison.
Still with his eye on ruling the Ukraine he became a Nazi supporter, but he never did join the Nazi party. He soon became disillusioned with them as they roll across Europe. His brother Albrecht now the head of the family in Poland didn’t fair any better than his brother in realizing the Habsburg dreams of empire. He is arrested by the Germans and all his property seized because he was deemed not German enough. The estates were too nice to leave in the hands of anyone with such murky citizenship as a Habsburg. Albrecht’s wife Alice was also detained and interrogated. She proves to be fascinating.
Alice, so elegant, so assured she intimidated the gestapo.
”Alice was a sufficiently dynastic thinker to have a frame of reference broader than the present time. She thought of Germany as a country that the Habsburgs had ruled for half a millennium. She sensed that Hitler’s regime, the so-called ‘thousand-year Reich,’ would not last nearly so long. Intimidated by her bravado and beauty, the Gestapo lacked the nerve to arrest Alice. It’s officers instead tried to persuade her that, as a perfect female specimen of the Nordic race, she would abandon the Polish nation and join the victorious Germans.”
No thank you.
Albrecht is released suffering from paralysis on one side of his body and missing an eye. He would not renounce his Polish heritage. Sometimes a father’s dreams die hard.
When the Soviets roll through Poland in WW2 raping (tens of thousands of women) and pillaging their way through German territory the Soviets encounter the Habsburgs again and this time do find them to be too German as an excuse to seize their properties instead of returning them. Ironic really, the Habsburgs were not German enough and too German at the same time.
Wilhelm is spying for the British during the war and after the war he spies for the French. The Soviets always leery of his associations with the Ukraine finally shove him into a car in Vienna and take him to be interrogated and eventually convicted.
I actually found the stories about the other Habsburgs more interesting than the story of Wilhelm. I intentionally only touched on some of Wilhelm’s participation so that my review does not hinder future readers from mining gems with their own pick ax. This book certainly whetted my appetite for more books on the Habsburgs. I respect their ambitions and their, in general, desire to rule their subjects in such a way to improve the standard of living of the people they are destined to lead. WW1 and WW2 shattered their empires and their potential kingdoms. The world decided they didn’t need them anymore.
Wilhelm in traditional Ukrainian clothing.
I don’t really know much about the Habsburgs. I read a book about the suicide of Rudolph the crown prince of Austria and his father Franz Joseph. Franz Joseph was the center of all power in the Habsburg universe as the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He ruled for 68 years. The third longest in recorded European history. He knew when to exit the stage gracefully by passing away in 1916 just a few years before his empire was dissolved. With Rudolph’s suicide Franz Joseph’s nephew Franz Ferdinand was the heir apparent to the empire. Franz Ferdinand was not well liked, but he would end up playing an important role in the history of the world.
The assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife.
A Serbian student, Gavrilo Princip, stepped from the crowd. He had a gun. Standing directly in front of the car, Princip shot Sophie and Franz Ferdinand from close range. Each of them, mortally wounded, thought of the other. Sophie asked Franz Ferdinand what had happened to him. Franz Ferdinand begged Sophie to live for the sake of their children. One bullet had penetrated her corset and abdomen, another had pierced his jugular vein. He slowly pitched forward, bleeding heavily. His hat fell from his head, its green feathers mingling with red blood on the floor of the auto. His last words were. ‘it is nothing.’
With the last beating of his heart 16 million people were consigned to death and 20 million more would be wounded in one of the bloodiest conflicts in world history.
It seems absurd really in an age of assassination where there was hardly a head of state that hadn’t had an assassination attempt perpetrated against them for this to be the spark to set off the first world war. After all there were plenty of Habsburgs. Another nephew Karl was measured for emperor clothing and placed in the waiting room outside Franz Joseph’s imperial throne room. Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia and Pandora's box has been opened.
Timothy Snyder also talks about Maximilian, Franz Joseph’s little brother. I studied Mexican History one summer at the University of Arizona. It was a three hour a day class and my mind was reeling and cramping from the repetitive nature of Mexican history. It was a series of peasant uprisings in which they would kill or exile the corrupt people in power, put the leaders of the revolution in power, and then the new people in power soon become as corrupt as the ones they tossed out.
Do over.
So it was interesting in the middle of this blur of repeating history that Maximilian shows up on the scene. The Mexican aristocracy asked him to be their emperor. Poor Max was sold a bridge without planking.
First his wife, Carlota of Mexico, born Charlotte of Belgium, was nagging him that she wanted to be empress. She was rather lovely and he was a Habsburg so he was by nature ambitious. Mixing beauty with ambition can lead to a rash decision such as to accept an invitation to rule a third world country.
Second he didn’t know that the French soldiers were the only reason there was any modicum of control for any future government in which he would be running. The French leave soon after he arrives in 1864.
Third he didn’t know until he was departing for Mexico that he would have to give up all his European titles and his claim to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Of course at the time he was third in line and didn’t really expect to ever have a chance to succeed his brother. With Rudolph’s suicide in 1889 Max would have been next in line, but unfortunately he had already been executed by Mexican revolutionaries in 1867. How would the timeline of history change if Maximilian had never went to Mexico? Would a Serbian student have shot him? Would WWI have been avoided? Doubtful, Europe was a tender box just waiting to go off. Still when I’m bored at my desk at work sometimes I enjoy running these world scenarios through my head.
Maximilian went to Mexico with the best of intentions, but returned to Vienna in a box.
This book is supposed to be about Wilhelm, but is it my fault that Snyder talks about all these other tantalizing Habsburg histories?
The story of Wilhelm really begins with the story of his father Stefan. Stefan was blessed with three boys and three girls all of equal importance to a Habsburg because the family has a long history of using marriage to acquire new territories. Stefan looking at world events believes that Poland is ripe to be turned into a kingdom and so he moves there, buys 40,000 hectares of land, buys a brewery, and promptly begins to marry his daughters off to leading Polish aristocracy. This is a bold plan because his daughters are eligible to marry crown princes all over the world. He really does put all his eggs in one basket.
Wilhelm is the baby, so his older brother Albrecht is the heir apparent if Stefan can manage to carve out an empire and Leo is the spare. Wilhelm decides in the tradition of his family to go elsewhere to make his fortune. He decides on the Ukraine. He leads a unit of Ukraine soldiers in World War One and wears a flamboyant red Ukrainian shirt under his uniform which is when he begins being called The Red Prince. He learns the language. He immerses himself in Ukrainian culture.
Plots and counterplots land Wilhelm out of the Ukraine and into the hedonistic lifestyle of Paris in the 1930s. He was bi-sexual and Paris of that period was a wonderland of entertainment for a young aristocrat. This all came crashing down when one of his associates, Paulette the postal worker, had been caught defrauding thousands of dollars out of people using Wilhelm’s name. He had to flee back to Austria to avoid prison.
Still with his eye on ruling the Ukraine he became a Nazi supporter, but he never did join the Nazi party. He soon became disillusioned with them as they roll across Europe. His brother Albrecht now the head of the family in Poland didn’t fair any better than his brother in realizing the Habsburg dreams of empire. He is arrested by the Germans and all his property seized because he was deemed not German enough. The estates were too nice to leave in the hands of anyone with such murky citizenship as a Habsburg. Albrecht’s wife Alice was also detained and interrogated. She proves to be fascinating.
Alice, so elegant, so assured she intimidated the gestapo.
”Alice was a sufficiently dynastic thinker to have a frame of reference broader than the present time. She thought of Germany as a country that the Habsburgs had ruled for half a millennium. She sensed that Hitler’s regime, the so-called ‘thousand-year Reich,’ would not last nearly so long. Intimidated by her bravado and beauty, the Gestapo lacked the nerve to arrest Alice. It’s officers instead tried to persuade her that, as a perfect female specimen of the Nordic race, she would abandon the Polish nation and join the victorious Germans.”
No thank you.
Albrecht is released suffering from paralysis on one side of his body and missing an eye. He would not renounce his Polish heritage. Sometimes a father’s dreams die hard.
When the Soviets roll through Poland in WW2 raping (tens of thousands of women) and pillaging their way through German territory the Soviets encounter the Habsburgs again and this time do find them to be too German as an excuse to seize their properties instead of returning them. Ironic really, the Habsburgs were not German enough and too German at the same time.
Wilhelm is spying for the British during the war and after the war he spies for the French. The Soviets always leery of his associations with the Ukraine finally shove him into a car in Vienna and take him to be interrogated and eventually convicted.
I actually found the stories about the other Habsburgs more interesting than the story of Wilhelm. I intentionally only touched on some of Wilhelm’s participation so that my review does not hinder future readers from mining gems with their own pick ax. This book certainly whetted my appetite for more books on the Habsburgs. I respect their ambitions and their, in general, desire to rule their subjects in such a way to improve the standard of living of the people they are destined to lead. WW1 and WW2 shattered their empires and their potential kingdoms. The world decided they didn’t need them anymore.
February 27, 2021
Дочитавши цю книжку до кінця, я зрозуміла, що живу в двох кроках від площі Василя Вишиваного aka Вільгельм Габсбурга, але не уявляла хто він такий. А ще зрозуміла, що недооцінювала історичну вартість пива Żywiec, на етикетці якого досі є корона Габсбургів.
Вільгельм Габсбург був неймовірною людиною - моряком, шпигуном, завсідником перших гей-клубів, політиком і офіцером. Він мав утопічні і прекрасні плани щодо України, але жоден з них не вдалося втілити - йому, хоча вдалося втілити потім. Ми спокійно можемо уявити історію України без Вільгельма Габсбурга, короля нездійснених проектів. Його фігура не є ключовою для офіційного наративу. Але його трагічна історія (це книжка з гепі-ендом для України, але не для головного героя) пояснює як все відбувалося. Як вмирала імперія і як в агонії будувала плани на відбудову. Як поставали нові національні проекти і вигризали собі місце під сонцем. Як творилися і падали тоталітаризми.
Вільгельм Габсбург відчував себе меншиною в багатьох сенсах цього слова і саме тому мабуть його привабив український національний проект, екзотичніший, менш відомий і здавалося безнадійний. Це книжка про постійний вибір - добровільний чи недобровільний, про тиняння по Європі і про відкинутість, бо після кожного рішення зачинялися ті чи інші двері.
Цю книжку можна читати як шпигунський роман, а можна як історію про трагічне кохання, а можна як про жахи модернізації. В кожному разі її приємно читати і за цим стоїть ретельна праця автора Тімоті Снайдера і перекладача Павла Грицака. Але саме ця праця забезпечує плинність тексту і те, як перед очима постають живі картини - родини Габсбургів на яхті, молодих спадкоємців династії, що відкривають для себе космополітичний сучасний Відень, Вільгельма/Василя, що випиває з українськими солдатами і так далі. Дуже прикро, що більшість істориків нехтують красою стилю і тексту.
***
“Самовизначення було справою непевною не лише на практиці, а й у теорії. Воно виходило з припущення, що нації були подібні до особистостей, що в них були права, які можна було якимось чином зреалізувати. Але як тоді бути із власне особистостями та їхніми індивідуальними правами? Вільгельм був особливо яскравою постаттю, але він був лише одним із мільйонів східних європейців, чию національність було нелегко встановити. Як Габсбург він представляв складну соціальну дійсність, що її самовизначення заперечувало. Стара Європа багатонаціональних імперій залишала багато неви-значености щодо національної ідентичности, і ця невизначеність скидалася на певного штибу людську свободу. Якщо національна ідентичність передається через народження або через державу, то аж ніяк не визволяє особистість. Якщо ж натомість національність визнавати питанням еволюцій чи переконання, то вона може дозволити особі зростати й мінятися. Національність тоді, як і тепер, була справою непростою, дуже часто справою вибору - як особистого, так і політичного; часом вогкою - як молоді й сповнені життя тіла, часом сухою - як чорнило підписів на договорах.”
Вільгельм Габсбург був неймовірною людиною - моряком, шпигуном, завсідником перших гей-клубів, політиком і офіцером. Він мав утопічні і прекрасні плани щодо України, але жоден з них не вдалося втілити - йому, хоча вдалося втілити потім. Ми спокійно можемо уявити історію України без Вільгельма Габсбурга, короля нездійснених проектів. Його фігура не є ключовою для офіційного наративу. Але його трагічна історія (це книжка з гепі-ендом для України, але не для головного героя) пояснює як все відбувалося. Як вмирала імперія і як в агонії будувала плани на відбудову. Як поставали нові національні проекти і вигризали собі місце під сонцем. Як творилися і падали тоталітаризми.
Вільгельм Габсбург відчував себе меншиною в багатьох сенсах цього слова і саме тому мабуть його привабив український національний проект, екзотичніший, менш відомий і здавалося безнадійний. Це книжка про постійний вибір - добровільний чи недобровільний, про тиняння по Європі і про відкинутість, бо після кожного рішення зачинялися ті чи інші двері.
Цю книжку можна читати як шпигунський роман, а можна як історію про трагічне кохання, а можна як про жахи модернізації. В кожному разі її приємно читати і за цим стоїть ретельна праця автора Тімоті Снайдера і перекладача Павла Грицака. Але саме ця праця забезпечує плинність тексту і те, як перед очима постають живі картини - родини Габсбургів на яхті, молодих спадкоємців династії, що відкривають для себе космополітичний сучасний Відень, Вільгельма/Василя, що випиває з українськими солдатами і так далі. Дуже прикро, що більшість істориків нехтують красою стилю і тексту.
***
“Самовизначення було справою непевною не лише на практиці, а й у теорії. Воно виходило з припущення, що нації були подібні до особистостей, що в них були права, які можна було якимось чином зреалізувати. Але як тоді бути із власне особистостями та їхніми індивідуальними правами? Вільгельм був особливо яскравою постаттю, але він був лише одним із мільйонів східних європейців, чию національність було нелегко встановити. Як Габсбург він представляв складну соціальну дійсність, що її самовизначення заперечувало. Стара Європа багатонаціональних імперій залишала багато неви-значености щодо національної ідентичности, і ця невизначеність скидалася на певного штибу людську свободу. Якщо національна ідентичність передається через народження або через державу, то аж ніяк не визволяє особистість. Якщо ж натомість національність визнавати питанням еволюцій чи переконання, то вона може дозволити особі зростати й мінятися. Національність тоді, як і тепер, була справою непростою, дуже часто справою вибору - як особистого, так і політичного; часом вогкою - як молоді й сповнені життя тіла, часом сухою - як чорнило підписів на договорах.”
April 27, 2013
This is an excellent overview of the fading of the Hapsburg Monarchy and 20th Century history of the Ukraine and Poland. For all I have read on causes and consequences of WWI and II, this short book, covering one small corner of history helped me frame not so much what happened, but how it happened.
Through the lives of this minor branch of the Hapsburg family we learn how the Ukraine developed its national identity and, despite the dedication of Wilhelm Hapsburg (aka Vasyl Vyshyvanyi) and other martyrs, was swallowed by Russia. Similarly, we see how Poland was forced into the Soviet yoke. We see how former royals minimized their losses through the intercession of their still enthroned royal relatives. We see the limits of Hitler's control of his killing machine... and so much more.
Best of all, we see how countries were formed from the former Hapsburg lands. Page 263 has a map which shows the blends of nationalities the Hapsburg were attempting to unify and the stunning changes that took place in the last 100 years.
For me, this was a wonderfully enjoyable book, and through it I was better able to visualize 20th century European history.
Through the lives of this minor branch of the Hapsburg family we learn how the Ukraine developed its national identity and, despite the dedication of Wilhelm Hapsburg (aka Vasyl Vyshyvanyi) and other martyrs, was swallowed by Russia. Similarly, we see how Poland was forced into the Soviet yoke. We see how former royals minimized their losses through the intercession of their still enthroned royal relatives. We see the limits of Hitler's control of his killing machine... and so much more.
Best of all, we see how countries were formed from the former Hapsburg lands. Page 263 has a map which shows the blends of nationalities the Hapsburg were attempting to unify and the stunning changes that took place in the last 100 years.
For me, this was a wonderfully enjoyable book, and through it I was better able to visualize 20th century European history.
April 2, 2023
If we believe that the nation resides in the orderly recitations of history given to us by our leaders, then our story is over.
Snyder gives us more of a biography with attendant anecdote than a portal into the historical hard luck of those in his "Bloodlands" and for that I bristled. One anecdote regards a Polish woman applying for medical school in the late 1940s, the state questionnaire asks her to identify her class origins, with a choice of worker, peasant or intellectual. The "puzzled" lady pauses and then writes in, Habsburg.
The titular prince is Archduke Wilhelm Franz of Austria and yes he had a reputation for cross dressing. Sigh. We also learn that cousin Franz Ferdinand regarded Serbia as a land of "murderers, scoundrels and a few plum trees."
I expected more. The penultimate chapter details the Orange Revolution and situates the EU in Habsburg terms. That was interesting and i honestly would have preferred more of that and less of the lurid.
Snyder gives us more of a biography with attendant anecdote than a portal into the historical hard luck of those in his "Bloodlands" and for that I bristled. One anecdote regards a Polish woman applying for medical school in the late 1940s, the state questionnaire asks her to identify her class origins, with a choice of worker, peasant or intellectual. The "puzzled" lady pauses and then writes in, Habsburg.
The titular prince is Archduke Wilhelm Franz of Austria and yes he had a reputation for cross dressing. Sigh. We also learn that cousin Franz Ferdinand regarded Serbia as a land of "murderers, scoundrels and a few plum trees."
I expected more. The penultimate chapter details the Orange Revolution and situates the EU in Habsburg terms. That was interesting and i honestly would have preferred more of that and less of the lurid.
December 13, 2022
This biography of Archduke Wilhelm Franz of Austria — later (post-WWI) Wilhelm Franz von Habsburg-Lothringen — is a compelling read. Ostensibly it's about the Prince's embrace of Ukraine as a personal mission with implications for the dynasty. It covers discrete moments of the Habsburg Empire's rise and fall with a brevity reminiscent of A.J.P. Taylor's The Hapsburg Monarchy, 1809-1918. Though that is more of a survey text, while Dr. Snyder's book is a history-laden biography. Cleverly devised.
May 31, 2014
Цікава, але двозначна праця Тімоті Снайдера. Перша, яку переклали українською мовою, та найбільш українська зі всіх, які я читав. По-перше, в ній автор найбільш прихильно ставиться до українців (в Перетворення націй: Польща, Україна, Литва, Білорусь 1569-1999 та Криваві землі: Європа поміж Гітлером та Сталіним він часто описує події української історії більш упереджено, ніж пасувало б сучасному історикові), хоча і тут не бракує химерних помилок. Наприклад, батьки Зиґмунда Фройда, згідно з Т.Снайдером, походять з Богемії та Моравії. Насправді, вони походять з України: з Бродів та Одеси, якщо я не помиляюся.
Втім, не це є найбільшим недоліком книги. Насправді, вона дуже неоднорідна, чим дратує. Автор починає з питання: як відбувався перехід від домодерної династичної ідентичності до модерної національної? Як приклад він вивчає біографію Вільгельма Габсбурга, який більш відомий українцям як Василь Вишиваний.
Розділи, які описують біографію Вільгельма до 1920-х рр., цілком відповідають поставленому завданню: автор демонструє виклики, які постали перед Габсбургами в епоху націоналізмів, та можливі на них реакції. Одна з них - уникання національного як такого, коли монарх є понад національними поділами, тому що їх не визнає: є лише Імперія та її народ. На жаль, тут автор уникає питання: чи народ Імперії конструювався чиновниками як "нація Імперії", чи це були "піддані Імперії"? Питання доволі гостре, бо критикований Снайдером Дж.Тейлор в своїй книзі Габсбурзька монархія 1809-1918: Історія Австрійської імперії та Австро-Угорщини намагався продемонструвати, що Габсбурзька монархія була позанаціональною, а не наднаціональною. Натомість Роман Шпорлюк в Формування модерних націй: Україна – Росія – Польща стверджує, що австрійська бюрократія все ж творила імперську націю.
Тімоті Снайдер йде іншим шляхом: виходячи з засновку, що Габсбурги не були національними правителями, а їхня монархія не вписувалася в національні поділи, він намагається зрозуміти, як же ж вони давали раду з націоналізмом? Франц-Йосиф був позанаціональним політиком, а от його син Стефан та внуки Альбрехт та Вільгельм вирішили бути національними монархами. Вони зрозуміли: націоналізм неможливо подолати, а можна лише очолити. Відтак, Стефан вирішує очолити польський рух, а Вільгельм - створити український. Останнє виглядає дуже кумедно, бо автор не вникає в деталі формування українського націоналіста Василя Вишиваного: як той сприймав український національний рух? Що він знав про українців? Як він уявляв, що таке Україна, українська нація?
Всі ці питання Т.Снайдер оминає, просто стверджуючи: Вільгельм Габсбург просто вирішив стати українцем, вивчив українську мову - і пішов "в народ". До речі, а який діалект він вчив? Хто його навчав? Як сприймали Вільгельма українці?
Автор зосереджується на тому, як Вільгельм формував своє відчуття українськості, але оминає всі питання, які б стосувалися наповнення цієї українськості. Втім, і процес формування був би цікавим, сам по собі (хоча його важко відділити від змістового наповнення ідентичності), якби автор його простежував послідовно і систематично.
Втім, саме цього немає: 1920-і - 1930-і рр. в цій книзі - це розповідь про любовні походеньки Вільгельма Габсбурга та спроби реставрувати Габсбурзьку монархію його родичами. Питання ідентичності Вільгельма відходить на задній план, але годі збагнути: ідентичність перестала що-небудь для нього важити, чи автор просто зацікавився іншими сюжетами? В 1940-х рр. Вільгельм Габсбург знову стає українцем. Але ось тут виникає питання: якщо в першій частині книги автор "проштовхував" ідею, що для Вільгельма українська ідентичність була маскою, яку він використовував, щоб здобути владу та престиж в Габсбурзькій монархії, де він не був навіть спадкоємцем трону в n-ному порядку, то в третій - його справжнім обличчям. Автор захопився, забувся? Ні, бо аналогічна транформація відбувається з "польською" гілкою Габсбургів: вони також "націоналізуються". Чому так відбувається - автор не пояснює, навіть не акцентує на цьому уваги. Але саме цього міг очікувати читач: як відбувається перехід не тільки на рівні макро (Габсбурги, які міняють принцип позанаціональності на національно різнорідну монархію, де імператор є батьком націй, які живуть в мирі), але й мікро.
На жаль, цього в книжці немає: автор часто збивається на манівці опису біографії Вільгельма, але і тут не є послідовним, бо починає описувати біографії інших Габсбургів. Відтак, результат виходить дуже посереднім: десь автор подає соціально-політичні та культурні контексти функціонування Габсбурзької монархії (до 1914 р.), десь - біографію Вільгельма, але без зайвих деталей, а десь - юридичні тонкощі виживання інших Габсбургів в повоєнній (після 1945 р.) Європі. Завершує все коротка нотатка про Помаранчеву революцію 2004 р., але на той момент читач вже не дивується такому хаотичному руху думки автора, тому фінал виходить доволі очікуваним, але розчаровуючим.
Книжку читати варто. Вона ставить низку питань, які автор навіть сам не бачить.
Наприклад, дуже класна цитата: Як і націоналізм, кохання було карою модерности (с.58). Автор просто вживає цей зворот, щоб показати, що модерність для Габсбургів не була "подарунком", але не помічає, що в дуже концентрованій формі показує, що модерність була амбівалентною: кохання - це принцип індивідуалізму, а націоналізм - це принцип колективізму. Отже, модерність зумовлює атомізацію індивідів, але також і зростання соціальної солідарності! Чому так? Ось тут вже варто читати Ґеорґа Зіммеля, а також задуматися: можливо, саме тому ХХ ст. характеризується таким інтересом та важливістю ідентичностей (саме в ньому поняття "ідентичність" стає повсюдно вживаним і політичн��м), що модерні суспільства руйнують старі соціальні зв’язки, а тому люди починають шукати нових, зокрема, і національних? Можливо, саме тому в 1930-х рр. Вільгельм Габсбург стає однозначно українцем, бо втрачає контакти з родиною і його династична ідентичність солідарність руйнується, а тому він починає шукати ідентичність?
Отже, книжка спонукає думати. І за це її варто прочитати.
Втім, не це є найбільшим недоліком книги. Насправді, вона дуже неоднорідна, чим дратує. Автор починає з питання: як відбувався перехід від домодерної династичної ідентичності до модерної національної? Як приклад він вивчає біографію Вільгельма Габсбурга, який більш відомий українцям як Василь Вишиваний.
Розділи, які описують біографію Вільгельма до 1920-х рр., цілком відповідають поставленому завданню: автор демонструє виклики, які постали перед Габсбургами в епоху націоналізмів, та можливі на них реакції. Одна з них - уникання національного як такого, коли монарх є понад національними поділами, тому що їх не визнає: є лише Імперія та її народ. На жаль, тут автор уникає питання: чи народ Імперії конструювався чиновниками як "нація Імперії", чи це були "піддані Імперії"? Питання доволі гостре, бо критикований Снайдером Дж.Тейлор в своїй книзі Габсбурзька монархія 1809-1918: Історія Австрійської імперії та Австро-Угорщини намагався продемонструвати, що Габсбурзька монархія була позанаціональною, а не наднаціональною. Натомість Роман Шпорлюк в Формування модерних націй: Україна – Росія – Польща стверджує, що австрійська бюрократія все ж творила імперську націю.
Тімоті Снайдер йде іншим шляхом: виходячи з засновку, що Габсбурги не були національними правителями, а їхня монархія не вписувалася в національні поділи, він намагається зрозуміти, як же ж вони давали раду з націоналізмом? Франц-Йосиф був позанаціональним політиком, а от його син Стефан та внуки Альбрехт та Вільгельм вирішили бути національними монархами. Вони зрозуміли: націоналізм неможливо подолати, а можна лише очолити. Відтак, Стефан вирішує очолити польський рух, а Вільгельм - створити український. Останнє виглядає дуже кумедно, бо автор не вникає в деталі формування українського націоналіста Василя Вишиваного: як той сприймав український національний рух? Що він знав про українців? Як він уявляв, що таке Україна, українська нація?
Всі ці питання Т.Снайдер оминає, просто стверджуючи: Вільгельм Габсбург просто вирішив стати українцем, вивчив українську мову - і пішов "в народ". До речі, а який діалект він вчив? Хто його навчав? Як сприймали Вільгельма українці?
Автор зосереджується на тому, як Вільгельм формував своє відчуття українськості, але оминає всі питання, які б стосувалися наповнення цієї українськості. Втім, і процес формування був би цікавим, сам по собі (хоча його важко відділити від змістового наповнення ідентичності), якби автор його простежував послідовно і систематично.
Втім, саме цього немає: 1920-і - 1930-і рр. в цій книзі - це розповідь про любовні походеньки Вільгельма Габсбурга та спроби реставрувати Габсбурзьку монархію його родичами. Питання ідентичності Вільгельма відходить на задній план, але годі збагнути: ідентичність перестала що-небудь для нього важити, чи автор просто зацікавився іншими сюжетами? В 1940-х рр. Вільгельм Габсбург знову стає українцем. Але ось тут виникає питання: якщо в першій частині книги автор "проштовхував" ідею, що для Вільгельма українська ідентичність була маскою, яку він використовував, щоб здобути владу та престиж в Габсбурзькій монархії, де він не був навіть спадкоємцем трону в n-ному порядку, то в третій - його справжнім обличчям. Автор захопився, забувся? Ні, бо аналогічна транформація відбувається з "польською" гілкою Габсбургів: вони також "націоналізуються". Чому так відбувається - автор не пояснює, навіть не акцентує на цьому уваги. Але саме цього міг очікувати читач: як відбувається перехід не тільки на рівні макро (Габсбурги, які міняють принцип позанаціональності на національно різнорідну монархію, де імператор є батьком націй, які живуть в мирі), але й мікро.
На жаль, цього в книжці немає: автор часто збивається на манівці опису біографії Вільгельма, але і тут не є послідовним, бо починає описувати біографії інших Габсбургів. Відтак, результат виходить дуже посереднім: десь автор подає соціально-політичні та культурні контексти функціонування Габсбурзької монархії (до 1914 р.), десь - біографію Вільгельма, але без зайвих деталей, а десь - юридичні тонкощі виживання інших Габсбургів в повоєнній (після 1945 р.) Європі. Завершує все коротка нотатка про Помаранчеву революцію 2004 р., але на той момент читач вже не дивується такому хаотичному руху думки автора, тому фінал виходить доволі очікуваним, але розчаровуючим.
Книжку читати варто. Вона ставить низку питань, які автор навіть сам не бачить.
Наприклад, дуже класна цитата: Як і націоналізм, кохання було карою модерности (с.58). Автор просто вживає цей зворот, щоб показати, що модерність для Габсбургів не була "подарунком", але не помічає, що в дуже концентрованій формі показує, що модерність була амбівалентною: кохання - це принцип індивідуалізму, а націоналізм - це принцип колективізму. Отже, модерність зумовлює атомізацію індивідів, але також і зростання соціальної солідарності! Чому так? Ось тут вже варто читати Ґеорґа Зіммеля, а також задуматися: можливо, саме тому ХХ ст. характеризується таким інтересом та важливістю ідентичностей (саме в ньому поняття "ідентичність" стає повсюдно вживаним і політичн��м), що модерні суспільства руйнують старі соціальні зв’язки, а тому люди починають шукати нових, зокрема, і національних? Можливо, саме тому в 1930-х рр. Вільгельм Габсбург стає однозначно українцем, бо втрачає контакти з родиною і його династична ідентичність солідарність руйнується, а тому він починає шукати ідентичність?
Отже, книжка спонукає думати. І за це її варто прочитати.
July 2, 2022
Суперцікава книжка, яка не тільки розповідає про біографію Василя Вишиваного (ака Вільґельма фон Габсбурга) і дає уявлення про контексти (світ напередодні 1-ї світової війни, під час світових і опісля), але ще і майстерно, художньо написана. Кожен розділ має назву певного кольору, який відображає тему: чи то блакитний — дитинство на березі моря; червоне — соціалізм Вишиваного під час Першої світової; бузкове — походеньки, розваги й інтриги Вишиваного в Парижі в міжвоєнний період, етс. Так само і власне книжка написана «з кінця»: починається вона з короткої оповіді про останню з Габсбургів, Марію-Крістіну, а також про загибель її дядьків (один із яких і є власне Вільґельмом), і тому дочитавши її, хочеться перечитати початок. Книжка для широкого загалу, і тим не менше надзвичайно гідна і спостережлива.
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January 10, 2016 A fascinating life of a paradoxical and almost-pivotal figure told with a historian's eye for the bigger picture
My gripes with this book come with its penultimate chapter and they don't detract from Snyder's masterful telling.
My gripes with this book come with its penultimate chapter and they don't detract from Snyder's masterful telling.
December 22, 2025
There are few historians who possess Timothy Snyder's winning combination of languages, stylish story-telling and analytic insight; in The Red Prince, he has produced a gem. Today no one remembers the Archduke Wilhelm, except perhaps the dwindling band of elderly Ukrainian émigrés who knew him better as "Vasily the Embroidered" - from the national costume he wore under his cloak. When he died in Soviet hands in the summer of 1948, the Habsburg dynasty was a footnote in history, and Wilhelm - the third son of a cadet branch of the family - was a footnote to the footnote. Snyder turns his unhappy, unfulfilled life into a story of suspense, a political romance teetering on the edge of tragicomedy. But because he is a sensitive writer, with a novelist's feel for language, he makes of it something more, a wry parable about the ironies of history and mutability of identities in today's Europe. For this is a tale of privilege that outlived its age, an idyllic childhood that descended into the hell of the continent's mid-century charnel-house.
I adored this book when I first read it years ago and have no hesitation in recommending it - particularly if you have read nothing else by Timothy Snyder - it is a perfect introduction to a wonderful, insightful historian and first rate writer.
I adored this book when I first read it years ago and have no hesitation in recommending it - particularly if you have read nothing else by Timothy Snyder - it is a perfect introduction to a wonderful, insightful historian and first rate writer.
March 16, 2009
If, like me, you never really "got" what the first world war was about, and felt fuzzy about the whole Holy Roman Empire thing, and that bit about Poland disappearing for a few years sounds somewhat familiar, then this book is an interesting way to clear some of that up. It's a biography of one of the last archdukes of the Hapsburg dynasty, a guy who spoke several languages but had no nationality, who rebelled against his father by trying to become king of the Ukraine (he almost did it), and who spent several years flamboyantly associating with the subculture of inter-war Paris. By following this very odd fellow through an even odder life, you get to see how truly dysfunctional Europe was in the first half of the 20th century. And it's a short read, which is a good thing, because the subject's life, as well as the time in which he lived, is seriously confusing.
April 4, 2014
Timothy Snyder wrote a fascinating and briljant book on European history. Using the archduke Wilhelm von Habsburg Snyder writes something like an archeology of the present. Snyder sketches a vivid sympathetic picture of the choices which the Habsburgs as leading political elite had to make in the making of modern Europe as a Europe of nations, dismantling the Europe of empire. In the end it puts Ukraine at the center of the European stage, and makes fhe point of the Euroepean Union as the successor or the Habsburg Empire. For anyone who wants to understand the current Ukrainian crisis, The Red Prince is a valuable and entertaining introduction.
June 19, 2023
Sin duda un relato apasionante sobre la vida de un personaje que no lo es menos. Un archiduque Habsburgo convertido en nacionalista y revolucionario en Ucrania, libertino en París, fascista en Alemania y espía en Viena contra Hitler primero y Stalin después. Un recorrido vital que comienza con un tono épico, sigue por un cuerpo un tanto estrambótico a la par que moralmente reprobable y termina con la redención final del personaje.
Pero este libro es mucho más que la biografía de un personaje pintoresco. Es una historia de la dinastía de los Habsburgo y su papel en la conformación de una determinada idea de Europa y de la construcción de identidades nacionales; idea que hasta cierto punto podemos afirmar que ha sido recogida por la UE. Es un relato de las profundas y catastróficas transformaciones que sufrió Europa tras las guerras mundiales, del fin de los Imperios dinásticos y el auge de las ideologías totalizadoras. Es también una reflexión sobre la cuestión nacional en Europa del este que toma nueva relevancia hoy en día a la luz de los nuevos acontecimientos en Ucrania.
En general una biografía precisa, fruto de una investigación exhaustiva y narrada de forma amena y dinámica, hasta el punto de leerse como si fuera una novela. Por otro lado, un análisis de la realidad europea que invita a la reflexión; aunque con un ligero sesgo antiruso, al menos a mi me lo ha parecido, pero nada demasiado descarado. Espero seguir leyendo más sobre la formación de las identidades nacionales en Europa central y del este tras el interés que me ha despertado este libro.
Pero este libro es mucho más que la biografía de un personaje pintoresco. Es una historia de la dinastía de los Habsburgo y su papel en la conformación de una determinada idea de Europa y de la construcción de identidades nacionales; idea que hasta cierto punto podemos afirmar que ha sido recogida por la UE. Es un relato de las profundas y catastróficas transformaciones que sufrió Europa tras las guerras mundiales, del fin de los Imperios dinásticos y el auge de las ideologías totalizadoras. Es también una reflexión sobre la cuestión nacional en Europa del este que toma nueva relevancia hoy en día a la luz de los nuevos acontecimientos en Ucrania.
En general una biografía precisa, fruto de una investigación exhaustiva y narrada de forma amena y dinámica, hasta el punto de leerse como si fuera una novela. Por otro lado, un análisis de la realidad europea que invita a la reflexión; aunque con un ligero sesgo antiruso, al menos a mi me lo ha parecido, pero nada demasiado descarado. Espero seguir leyendo más sobre la formación de las identidades nacionales en Europa central y del este tras el interés que me ha despertado este libro.
November 25, 2012
“The Red Prince” offers a fascinating window into the life of a one-time Habsburg archduke, while simultaneously telling the story of Central and Eastern Europe from the outbreak of the First World War to the ¬consolidation of Communist power in 1949. Archduke Wilhelm’s story is a rather interesting study of the fluidity/rigidity of European ethnic identity in the short 20th century – a Habsburg by birth, a Pole by upraising, a Ukrainian by choice, a German by Nazi racial standards, and an Austrian by citizenship. Snyder presents all the colorful details of Wilhem’s life that draw the reader into this engaging, entertaining, and enlightening read. Snyder’s work also examines the dynastic ambitions and strategies of the Habsburg family immediately before and after the Empire’s collapse, the precarious situation of a dispossessed Habsburg in the interwar years, the evolution of the Ukrainian national idea, and the role of war and chaos in creating modern European nation states. I recommend this book without reservation to all students of Eastern European history, particularly those interested in Ukrainian and Habsburg history. Having been pleasantly surprised by Snyder’s wit and writing style in “The Red Prince” I am now eagerly anticipating reading Snyder’s latest highly acclaimed work “Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin.”
March 8, 2016
The Red Prince has taken me longer than I anticipated, not because I haven’t enjoyed it, quite the reverse, but because I’ve been busy with the final stages and launch of my new novel, City of Dreams (on a Goodreads Giveaway until 30th May if anyone is interested in entering).
Going back to The Red Prince, however, it’s an excellent book that tells the story of Wilhelm von Habsburg who was born in 1895 at a time when the power of the Habsburg dynasty was showing signs of strain. Like many of his Hapsburg relations, Wilhelm was often eccentric and somewhat decadent, but he also held remarkably enlightened and progressive views on government and the relationship of a ruler with his subjects.
The author gives us a lot of solid history along with racy anecdotes. His explanation of the causes of WWI is far more lucid than anything I learnt at school. After the war, when the Allies were dividing the spoils, Wilhelm’s father wanted him to become king of Poland, but Wilhelm had already conceived a deep interest in the Ukraine and its people. If he was to rule any country, he wanted it to be the Ukraine. The story of how his ambition played out is compelling and gives a fascinating insight into the history of a troubled country, sadly once more in the news.
Going back to The Red Prince, however, it’s an excellent book that tells the story of Wilhelm von Habsburg who was born in 1895 at a time when the power of the Habsburg dynasty was showing signs of strain. Like many of his Hapsburg relations, Wilhelm was often eccentric and somewhat decadent, but he also held remarkably enlightened and progressive views on government and the relationship of a ruler with his subjects.
The author gives us a lot of solid history along with racy anecdotes. His explanation of the causes of WWI is far more lucid than anything I learnt at school. After the war, when the Allies were dividing the spoils, Wilhelm’s father wanted him to become king of Poland, but Wilhelm had already conceived a deep interest in the Ukraine and its people. If he was to rule any country, he wanted it to be the Ukraine. The story of how his ambition played out is compelling and gives a fascinating insight into the history of a troubled country, sadly once more in the news.
August 12, 2016
This is one of the finest books I've read. Although it is nearly perfectly written, with an historian's skill channeling the fluxes of time into a sense of their proportion and unexpected continuity, frequent readers of biography might say that Wilhelm von Habsburg never takes his proper place at the center of this story, as, indeed, he never did in the story he fashioned for himself. But this points at one of the accomplishments of this book: to show how enmeshed its subject is in his time, how one life -- even an aristocratic one -- is buffeted and even overcome by events around him. This book is also, it should be said, a long lens with which to view the current unrest in Ukraine. A wonderful book.
September 21, 2011
This is the second book I've read by Snyder and I've become a fan. He does a very nice job of weaving detail and analysis into an entertaining and informative read. His sheer delight in Wilhelm's character was contagious. My question: did Gary Trudeau (also an Eli) read this and did it inspire his Red Rascal character in Doonesbury?
November 5, 2019
Ha valaki még nem hallotta Habsburg Vilmos nevét, még nem kell okvetlenül szégyenkeznie, szerintem vagyunk ezzel így páran. Mindenesetre Snyder nagyon húzott, amikor újrafelfedezte őt, mert élettörténete szinte szimbóluma azoknak a hol komikus, hol (és inkább) tragikus változásoknak, amiken Közép-Kelet-Európa végigment a XX. században. Vilmos főherceg olyan családba született, ahol a nemzeti identitás nem vér, hanem választás kérdése volt – ezek az arisztokraták 6-7 nyelven beszéltek, és igazából nem lehetett megmondani, melyik az eredeti. Apja, István egy nagyívű ideát dédelgetett: előre megérezte a Habsburg Monarchia szétesésének lehetőségét, és arra gondolt, hogy egy jövőbeli nemzeti Lengyelországnak leginkább egy képzett uralkodóházra lesz szüksége – és hát ki lenne erre alkalmasabb, mint egy tősgyökeres Habsburg*? Vilmos viszont igen nagy vállalkozókedvről tanúbizonyságot téve Ukrajnát pécézte ki magának ugyanerre a célra, így István lengyel identitást vett fel, fia viszont ukránt** – nem csak úgy ukkmukkfukk, hanem nagyon céltudatosan, és ahogy meg lehet állapítani, őszintén. Így utólag persze ez igazi ködkergetésnek tűnik, de ne feledjük, hogy abban az időszakban ezek a fiatal nemzetállamok nem tűntek a stabilitás mintaképeinek, forradalmak, puccsok szaggatták őket – nem keveseknek tűnt úgy, hogy az a jó kis toleráns monarchia, na az a nekünk való államforma, oda kéne visszanyúlni. Snyder könyvéből egy páratlanul érdekes alternatív Európa rajzolódik ki a soha meg nem valósuló tervekből: számtalan stabil és független Habsburg nemzeti királyság a birodalom romjain, amik ellensúlyként szolgálhatnak egyrészt a Hitler-féle jobboldali agybajnak, másrészt pedig szuperkoalícióba tömörülnek a bolsevizmussal szemben… Aztán nem így lett, Vilmos pedig Sztálin börtönében vesztette életét – ez tulajdonképpen metaforikus értelemben az egész régió sorsát is előrevetíti. Szóval érdekes, hiánypótló könyv olyan kérdésekről, amelyek eddig jobbára a világháborúk árnyékában bújtak meg. Külön aktualitást ad neki, hogy világosan bemutatja az ukrán nemzeti önazonosság alakulását, egy országét, ami államként csak villanásnyi ideig létezett eddig, de etnikumként már több évszázada meghatározta önmagát.
* Szinte látom, ahogy állásinterjúztatják a sok koronás pacákot.
** Aki ismerős a nemzetek közötti konfliktusokban, talán tudja, hogy ez nem ígérkezett zökkenőmentes párosításnak, a lengyelek és az ukránok ugyanis ebben a korszakban finoman szólva sem szívelték egymást. Apa és fia választásának komolyságát az is jelzi, hogy rögtön halálosan össze is vesztek.
* Szinte látom, ahogy állásinterjúztatják a sok koronás pacákot.
** Aki ismerős a nemzetek közötti konfliktusokban, talán tudja, hogy ez nem ígérkezett zökkenőmentes párosításnak, a lengyelek és az ukránok ugyanis ebben a korszakban finoman szólva sem szívelték egymást. Apa és fia választásának komolyságát az is jelzi, hogy rögtön halálosan össze is vesztek.
October 29, 2023
Great book about a forgotten character.
Wilhelm Habsburg was one of the founding Ukrainian nationalist in the first half of the twentieth century. He worked for a nation and nationality he chose rather than inherited. He was true to his ideals and consistent in his support for independent Ukraine.
What he was not consistent iw everything else. Supporting Ukraine therefore supporting millions of poor peasants led Wilhelm to socialist ideals, yet he bitterly fought Bolsheviks since their beginning. He also supporte his family cosmopolitan monarchy. The first inconsistency is thus his monarchical socialism. Later on he flirted with strong nationalism and briefly even with the Nazis.
He was a bisexual and a frequent visitor of brothels. He was always earnest and true to his family, yet he was a spy for France and the UK during the WWII. He was a Nitzschean hero immersing himself into any and all projects he took part in, yet he was definitely a hedonist. He was a mesmerising character.
I really enjoyed the book and for anyone who feels undereducated about European history of 1910s, 20s, 30s this is an exciting book telling a tale of an important person on the background of great historical changes. Timothy Snyder is neither too swift nor too quick and the same applies to the level of historical detail.
If you are considering a historical novel this is good choice. It is more historical than a novel, but it is no less exciting.
Wilhelm Habsburg was one of the founding Ukrainian nationalist in the first half of the twentieth century. He worked for a nation and nationality he chose rather than inherited. He was true to his ideals and consistent in his support for independent Ukraine.
What he was not consistent iw everything else. Supporting Ukraine therefore supporting millions of poor peasants led Wilhelm to socialist ideals, yet he bitterly fought Bolsheviks since their beginning. He also supporte his family cosmopolitan monarchy. The first inconsistency is thus his monarchical socialism. Later on he flirted with strong nationalism and briefly even with the Nazis.
He was a bisexual and a frequent visitor of brothels. He was always earnest and true to his family, yet he was a spy for France and the UK during the WWII. He was a Nitzschean hero immersing himself into any and all projects he took part in, yet he was definitely a hedonist. He was a mesmerising character.
I really enjoyed the book and for anyone who feels undereducated about European history of 1910s, 20s, 30s this is an exciting book telling a tale of an important person on the background of great historical changes. Timothy Snyder is neither too swift nor too quick and the same applies to the level of historical detail.
If you are considering a historical novel this is good choice. It is more historical than a novel, but it is no less exciting.
September 24, 2024
Невероятна биография на един Хабсбург, отгледан като поляк, но решил да отдаде живота си на Украйна.
Същевременно книгата е една своеобразна биография на разпадащата се империя, на възраждането на Полша и зараждането на Украйна. Последната глава оценява и сравнява ролята на Хабсбургската империя и Европейския съюз за източноевропейските народи.
Надявам се в едно ново издание някога в бъдещето Снайдър да допише именно тази глава. Понеже книгата е издадена през 2008-ма, авторът цитира Ото фон Хабсбург (тогава все още жив) и мнението му, че бъдещето на Европа ще се реши в Украйна, с известна дистанцираност.
Снайдър активно коментира войната в Украйна, даже наскоро имаше интервю в Свободна Европа, няма да се изненадам, ако напише книга скоро, но се надявам по-скоро да допълни тази. Ще си струва.
Edit: Току що видях, че от седмица Тимъти Снайдър дава интервюта за новата си, все още предстояща книга "On freedom".
Същевременно книгата е една своеобразна биография на разпадащата се империя, на възраждането на Полша и зараждането на Украйна. Последната глава оценява и сравнява ролята на Хабсбургската империя и Европейския съюз за източноевропейските народи.
Надявам се в едно ново издание някога в бъдещето Снайдър да допише именно тази глава. Понеже книгата е издадена през 2008-ма, авторът цитира Ото фон Хабсбург (тогава все още жив) и мнението му, че бъдещето на Европа ще се реши в Украйна, с известна дистанцираност.
Снайдър активно коментира войната в Украйна, даже наскоро имаше интервю в Свободна Европа, няма да се изненадам, ако напише книга скоро, но се надявам по-скоро да допълни тази. Ще си струва.
Edit: Току що видях, че от седмица Тимъти Снайдър дава интервюта за новата си, все още предстояща книга "On freedom".
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January 4, 2023the final chapter of this book was so forced and contrived, and completely at odds with the nuance of the rest of the book, that i genuinely don’t know how to react
December 24, 2015
In 1580, the House of Habsburg reigned in a good third of Europe: Spain, Portugal, the Low Countries, the southern half of Italy, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and smaller principalities; the Habsburgs were also emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. By 1914, their realm had shrunk in some places and expanded in others, comprising a huge country in Central and Eastern Europe, consisting of many peoples and tongues, as reflected in the almost-fractal complexity of its coat of arms. Josef Haydn's anthem of the empire had a German, Hungarian, Czech, Croatian, Polish, Slovene, Romanian, Ukrainian, Friulian and even a Hebrew version. When Italian-speaking peoples unified their country, they ejected the Habsburgs; Prussia won a war with the Habsburg Empire and unified most German-speaking peoples. The Habsburgs knew that the unification of the South Slavs and the Poles was next on the agenda.
A Habsburg archduke decided that, should Poland become unified, it may as well do it under a Habsburg king. He took his large family to an estate in Poland, had them learn Polish, and made two of his daughters marry a Radziwiłł and a Czartoryski (kings do not marry out of love). However, one of his sons, born in 1895, disobeyed him. As a teenager he met some Ukrainians, fell in love with the people, and learned the language. When World War I broke out, the young archduke joined a Ukrainian national unit of the Austrian Army, and became known as Vasyl Vyshyvany because of the embroidered shirt he liked to wear; his real name was Wilhelm von Habsburg-Lothringen.
For Poland or Ukraine to have a Habsburg king, the Russian Empire, which in 1914 possessed most of both, had to collapse; it did in the 1917 revolution, and gave up Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Wilhelm helped the Habsburg Empire and the Ukrainian People's Republic negotiate a peace treaty: the former recognized the latter in exchange for deliveries of food; a secret protocol provided for the creation of a separate Ukrainian crown land in the Ukrainian-majority lands of the Habsburg Empire. The Central Powers did proclaim a puppet Kingdom of Poland in 1916, without naming its king; had they won World War I, Wilhelm's father Archduke Karl Stephen may have become the king. The Germans installed a puppet Hetman Skoropadsky of Ukraine in 1918; Wilhelm was in Ukraine, too, and was the subject of diplomatic intrigues: should he and his soldiers be ordered out of the country, or should he be proclaimed king instead?
After the Habsburg Empire collapsed and the Reds won the Russian Civil War, Wilhelm wandered through Austria, Spain and France, living as a bisexual playboy-prince; he lived with a working-class Frenchwoman who committed fraud, and convinced the judge that Wilhelm was the brains of the operation; the court sentenced Wilhelm to five years of prison in absentia. Wilhelm fled to Austria, which apparently did not have an extradition treaty with France; soon, the country was annexed to Germany by the Nazis. Although sympathetic to fascism, Wilhelm hated the Nazis, and through some Ukrainian nationalist friends spied for the Allies (this part of the book did not seem believable to me; for all I know, this may be a later fabrication, which the author passed on uncritically). After the war was over, Wilhelm became a go-between between French intelligence services and Ukrainian nationalists; first his friends, and then he was arrested by the SMERSh in the Soviet occupation zone of Austria. Wilhelm was flown to Soviet Ukraine, and in 1948 he died of tuberculosis in Lukyanivka Prison in Kyiv, where Felix Dzerzhinsky did time years before and Yuliya Tymoshenko years later.
I am sure that thousands of people were born in 1895 and died in 1948 who lived much more meaningful and honorable lives.
A Habsburg archduke decided that, should Poland become unified, it may as well do it under a Habsburg king. He took his large family to an estate in Poland, had them learn Polish, and made two of his daughters marry a Radziwiłł and a Czartoryski (kings do not marry out of love). However, one of his sons, born in 1895, disobeyed him. As a teenager he met some Ukrainians, fell in love with the people, and learned the language. When World War I broke out, the young archduke joined a Ukrainian national unit of the Austrian Army, and became known as Vasyl Vyshyvany because of the embroidered shirt he liked to wear; his real name was Wilhelm von Habsburg-Lothringen.
For Poland or Ukraine to have a Habsburg king, the Russian Empire, which in 1914 possessed most of both, had to collapse; it did in the 1917 revolution, and gave up Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Wilhelm helped the Habsburg Empire and the Ukrainian People's Republic negotiate a peace treaty: the former recognized the latter in exchange for deliveries of food; a secret protocol provided for the creation of a separate Ukrainian crown land in the Ukrainian-majority lands of the Habsburg Empire. The Central Powers did proclaim a puppet Kingdom of Poland in 1916, without naming its king; had they won World War I, Wilhelm's father Archduke Karl Stephen may have become the king. The Germans installed a puppet Hetman Skoropadsky of Ukraine in 1918; Wilhelm was in Ukraine, too, and was the subject of diplomatic intrigues: should he and his soldiers be ordered out of the country, or should he be proclaimed king instead?
After the Habsburg Empire collapsed and the Reds won the Russian Civil War, Wilhelm wandered through Austria, Spain and France, living as a bisexual playboy-prince; he lived with a working-class Frenchwoman who committed fraud, and convinced the judge that Wilhelm was the brains of the operation; the court sentenced Wilhelm to five years of prison in absentia. Wilhelm fled to Austria, which apparently did not have an extradition treaty with France; soon, the country was annexed to Germany by the Nazis. Although sympathetic to fascism, Wilhelm hated the Nazis, and through some Ukrainian nationalist friends spied for the Allies (this part of the book did not seem believable to me; for all I know, this may be a later fabrication, which the author passed on uncritically). After the war was over, Wilhelm became a go-between between French intelligence services and Ukrainian nationalists; first his friends, and then he was arrested by the SMERSh in the Soviet occupation zone of Austria. Wilhelm was flown to Soviet Ukraine, and in 1948 he died of tuberculosis in Lukyanivka Prison in Kyiv, where Felix Dzerzhinsky did time years before and Yuliya Tymoshenko years later.
I am sure that thousands of people were born in 1895 and died in 1948 who lived much more meaningful and honorable lives.
October 25, 2012
This biography of a minor Habsburg makes the political machinations in "Game of Thrones" look more like "Game of Candyland."
I picked this book up for 2 reasons:
1) I wanted to learn more about the Hapsburgs
2) This particular Hapsburg struggled his whole adult life to create a free Ukraine in order to be its king.
Wilhelm von Habsburg, a relative of the famous Archduke Ferdinand, was born at the height of his family's imperial power, which gradually disintegrated during the rise of national sovereignty, fascism, and communism. A younger son, he needed to find a kingdom of his own in which to exert power. He fell in love with the Ukrainian people, and decided to help them get independence, defying his brother, who had become Polish and wanted Ukraine to be Polish territory. Also defying Russia, who wanted it to be Soviet. Also defying Hitler (after first praising him to the skies). Spoilers!!! Ukraine basically had a horrible 20th Century; the end of WWI was no break for them, and they experienced nearly continual war, invasion, oppression, and genocide from one decade to the next.
The author makes Wilhelm a likable character while pointing out his numerous character flaws. When it came to political machinations, Wilhelm was out of his league, mostly because all of his political skills had been designed to deal with his own rich, powerful relatives. The idea that close advisers and friends might be untrustworthy, or that exciting leaders like Hitler might not have the best intentions, tended to occur a bit too late. How could such a naive yet debauched young man survive all the plots people laid against him and his family for so many decades? The Soviet occupiers of Vienna got him in the end, but he held out far longer than one would expect. I found the Nazi occupiers' dilemmas on how to classify his Polish Hapsburg relatives particularly interesting. The Hapsburgs basically would just pick a nationality to rule (assimilation from the top?), but the Nazis cared about blood heritage and kept insisting the Hapsburgs were German.
I have to say that Wilhelm might not have been a very good king of Ukraine, but reading about his life let me see a side of European history I had never before considered. I would like to learn more about this family and portion of history and reread "The Red Prince" in that context.
I picked this book up for 2 reasons:
1) I wanted to learn more about the Hapsburgs
2) This particular Hapsburg struggled his whole adult life to create a free Ukraine in order to be its king.
Wilhelm von Habsburg, a relative of the famous Archduke Ferdinand, was born at the height of his family's imperial power, which gradually disintegrated during the rise of national sovereignty, fascism, and communism. A younger son, he needed to find a kingdom of his own in which to exert power. He fell in love with the Ukrainian people, and decided to help them get independence, defying his brother, who had become Polish and wanted Ukraine to be Polish territory. Also defying Russia, who wanted it to be Soviet. Also defying Hitler (after first praising him to the skies). Spoilers!!! Ukraine basically had a horrible 20th Century; the end of WWI was no break for them, and they experienced nearly continual war, invasion, oppression, and genocide from one decade to the next.
The author makes Wilhelm a likable character while pointing out his numerous character flaws. When it came to political machinations, Wilhelm was out of his league, mostly because all of his political skills had been designed to deal with his own rich, powerful relatives. The idea that close advisers and friends might be untrustworthy, or that exciting leaders like Hitler might not have the best intentions, tended to occur a bit too late. How could such a naive yet debauched young man survive all the plots people laid against him and his family for so many decades? The Soviet occupiers of Vienna got him in the end, but he held out far longer than one would expect. I found the Nazi occupiers' dilemmas on how to classify his Polish Hapsburg relatives particularly interesting. The Hapsburgs basically would just pick a nationality to rule (assimilation from the top?), but the Nazis cared about blood heritage and kept insisting the Hapsburgs were German.
I have to say that Wilhelm might not have been a very good king of Ukraine, but reading about his life let me see a side of European history I had never before considered. I would like to learn more about this family and portion of history and reread "The Red Prince" in that context.
April 27, 2024
This book is simply brilliant. Most history books are written in a very dry, academic style, which is at the best of times nothing more than interesting, and at the worst of times painfully boring. There are many which attempt to bring history to life by telling it like a story through the eyes of certain protagonists, and this is one of the few that really pulls it off.
It tells the story of the changing face of Europe in the 20th century through the eyes of Archduke Wilhelm von Habsburg. He grew up on the idyllic Adriatic island of Lošinj in a Europe dominated by Empires, fought in the First World War, and in 1917 and 1918, during the brief period of German victory in Eastern Europe, fought bravely for the cause of Ukrainian independence, and came tantalizingly close to his aspiration of becoming Ukraine’s king. He spent the 1920s living the decedent life of a Parisian exile, the 1930s slowly turning into a fascist and the 1940s abandoning fascism and supporting allied espionage in the German Reich and later the Eastern Bloc, until his death at the hands of the Soviets. A man made for a completely different world to the one he ended up in, whose life ended in tragedy as every one of his dreams and schemes, big and small, unravelled, and who never lived to see his ultimate dream of an independent Ukraine. This book puts all the dramatic change and tragic suffering of the 20th century into perspective brilliantly through the life of one extraordinary man.
I’m left with a strange longing for the parallel universe where this man really did become king of an independent Ukraine.
It tells the story of the changing face of Europe in the 20th century through the eyes of Archduke Wilhelm von Habsburg. He grew up on the idyllic Adriatic island of Lošinj in a Europe dominated by Empires, fought in the First World War, and in 1917 and 1918, during the brief period of German victory in Eastern Europe, fought bravely for the cause of Ukrainian independence, and came tantalizingly close to his aspiration of becoming Ukraine’s king. He spent the 1920s living the decedent life of a Parisian exile, the 1930s slowly turning into a fascist and the 1940s abandoning fascism and supporting allied espionage in the German Reich and later the Eastern Bloc, until his death at the hands of the Soviets. A man made for a completely different world to the one he ended up in, whose life ended in tragedy as every one of his dreams and schemes, big and small, unravelled, and who never lived to see his ultimate dream of an independent Ukraine. This book puts all the dramatic change and tragic suffering of the 20th century into perspective brilliantly through the life of one extraordinary man.
I’m left with a strange longing for the parallel universe where this man really did become king of an independent Ukraine.
February 26, 2010
Hut ab vor Timothy Snyder für dieses Werk. Hier wird Geschichte spannend und lebendig wie in einem James Bond Film. Fein granuliert breitet der Autor das Leben des Erzherzog Wilhelm aus. Es ist faszinierend was sich z.B. alleine im Sommer 1918 alles zugetragen, wer wen alles getroffen hat und wie die Mitteleuropäische Geschichte andere Bahnen hätte nehmen können.
Vergleicht man wie unsere Postmoderne Gesellschaft in ihrer grauen Angestelltensicherheit (bzw. -unsicherheit) vor sich hin lebt mit den Biographien in der umbruchsvollen Zeit von 1914 bis 1945, glaubt man eher wilde Abenteurschundromane zu lesen, als tatsächliche Erlebnisse. (vgl. dazu http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Tr...)
Lustig wird es, wenn z.B. eine französische Betrügerin und Heiratsschwindlerin in die Wilhelm verliebt war, als Gräfin verkleidet den Österreichischen Botschafter in Paris beinahe ums Ohr haut, nachdem sie zuvor Wilhelm die Schuld in einem Betrugsskandal angehängt hat.
Daher Hut ab vor dem Rechercheaufwand!
(Meine) Moral der Geschichte: Das Erbe Hitlers und Stalins greift in Form des Volks- und Nationsgedankens nachwievor und hat überlebt. Die Europäische Union ist eher ein Erbe der Habsburgermonarchie.
Vergleicht man wie unsere Postmoderne Gesellschaft in ihrer grauen Angestelltensicherheit (bzw. -unsicherheit) vor sich hin lebt mit den Biographien in der umbruchsvollen Zeit von 1914 bis 1945, glaubt man eher wilde Abenteurschundromane zu lesen, als tatsächliche Erlebnisse. (vgl. dazu http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Tr...)
Lustig wird es, wenn z.B. eine französische Betrügerin und Heiratsschwindlerin in die Wilhelm verliebt war, als Gräfin verkleidet den Österreichischen Botschafter in Paris beinahe ums Ohr haut, nachdem sie zuvor Wilhelm die Schuld in einem Betrugsskandal angehängt hat.
Daher Hut ab vor dem Rechercheaufwand!
(Meine) Moral der Geschichte: Das Erbe Hitlers und Stalins greift in Form des Volks- und Nationsgedankens nachwievor und hat überlebt. Die Europäische Union ist eher ein Erbe der Habsburgermonarchie.
September 10, 2015
Un retrato fascinante de un personaje olvidado por la historia y de una época en la que el mundo vivió un sinfín de cambios tanto políticos como sociales y en los que el protagonista se fue deslizando y adaptando poco a poco para sobrevivir en una desgarrada Europa cada vez mas violenta.
Guillermo de Habsburgo ayudó a crear la identidad nacional ucraniana en una época en que Ucrania no existía como país sino que estaba repartida entre varios imperios, sus habitantes no tenía siquiera una noción de que podían aspirar a tener una nación propia, Guillermo, "El príncipe rojo" como le conocían, se ganó el corazón de estos ucranianos, adoptando su nacionalidad, luchando a su lado en las dos Guerras Mundiales e intentando crear un reino en el que el pudo haber sido rey, aunque desgraciadamente no vivió para ver su sueño cumplido, pues tuvo que pasar casi medio siglo para que Ucrania surgiera como nación soberana, tras la caída de la Unión Soviética.
En resumen, un gran retrato de la Europa de principios del siglo XX, lleno de datos interesantes, algunos de ellos poco conocidos y como todo lo que escribe Timothy Snyder, una lectura amena y rápida.
Guillermo de Habsburgo ayudó a crear la identidad nacional ucraniana en una época en que Ucrania no existía como país sino que estaba repartida entre varios imperios, sus habitantes no tenía siquiera una noción de que podían aspirar a tener una nación propia, Guillermo, "El príncipe rojo" como le conocían, se ganó el corazón de estos ucranianos, adoptando su nacionalidad, luchando a su lado en las dos Guerras Mundiales e intentando crear un reino en el que el pudo haber sido rey, aunque desgraciadamente no vivió para ver su sueño cumplido, pues tuvo que pasar casi medio siglo para que Ucrania surgiera como nación soberana, tras la caída de la Unión Soviética.
En resumen, un gran retrato de la Europa de principios del siglo XX, lleno de datos interesantes, algunos de ellos poco conocidos y como todo lo que escribe Timothy Snyder, una lectura amena y rápida.
January 10, 2009
I am fascinated by the Hapsburg's, and this book has some good stories that are well written. However, the book is highly redundant. How many times can the author tell us that nationalism was going to destroy the Hapsburg Empire and that Wilhelm went to rule the Ukraine. Well, by about a third of the way through the book, about two dozen times.
It's unfortunate that this book reads like a series of articles hastily slapped together rather than having been edited to where someone could read it as a straight narrative because I want to like the book, but find myself putting it down in frustration at the redundancy.
It's unfortunate that this book reads like a series of articles hastily slapped together rather than having been edited to where someone could read it as a straight narrative because I want to like the book, but find myself putting it down in frustration at the redundancy.
July 28, 2012
The Red Prince is a book I read a blurb about somewhere and thought it sounded interesting and educational so I put it in my library queue. The book jacket also mentions that Archduke Wilhelm occasionally liked to wear dresses which piqued my interest even more. Wilhelm was a nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph, cousin of Franz Ferdinand (the man, not the band) and he himself set forth from an early age with a plan to become ruler of a Ukrainian state.
See the full review here: http://mrssmithreads.tumblr.com/post/...
See the full review here: http://mrssmithreads.tumblr.com/post/...
December 22, 2016
L'histoire mouvementée d'une personne et d'un pays qui m'a permis d'élucider quelques mystères familiales - notamment pourquoi est-ce que mon grand oncle à été envoyé dans les camps de goulag 2 fois de suite, quels étaient les habitants d'origine de l'empire des Habsbourgs et comment les membres de ma famille ont pu se déplacer librement dans une Europe des empires, qui a toujours été (assez faussement) décrite comme non-démocratique, remplie des polices secrètes et dotée d'une atmosphère intellectuelle étouffante, à parvenir jusqu'au les lointains rives du Cap de la Bonne-Espérance.
January 12, 2012
One of the lesser-known facets of the Massive World War (my term for the period between 1914 and 1948), this compact biography of one of the last archdukes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire illuminates the muddy history of the eastern European transition from 19th Century to modern states-hood. One among many dreams that never came to fruition as expected by people who thought they had the momentum of history on their side.
August 27, 2013
I think most of us know the name of Archduke Ferdinand in conjunction with his assassination, but this book goes more in depth regarding the entire family in this period of European history and how their once glorious empire crumbled. The only thing I did not care for especially was the writing style. The author seems to go on and on about a single point for pages when one paragraph would suffice. (IMHO)
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